Through the Bible, there are many stories of families and their triumphs and failures that provide many lessons for us today. However, when you start to look at the overarching importance of family in the Bible, there is a key principle to understand. We know that God designed family for a specific purpose (read our blog here for more on that) so as you look at families in the Bible, we can see how that theme plays out even further.
To illustrate this point, let’s look at the story of Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9:1-7
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”“At your service,” he replied.The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”“Where is he?” the king asked.Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel. When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, “Mephibosheth!”“At your service,” he replied.“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
For the context of that story, this is after Saul has passed away and David is king after all those years of Saul pursuing him. Despite all that history, David wants to seek out anyone left from Saul’s family to show kindness, and he finds Mephibosheth and welcomes him into the family to be cared for all his years.
As you read this, you can see some of the gospel parallels. There were enemies estranged from the king, but the king desired to show mercy and grace. The enemy was brought from a far-off place to be returned to restoration.
Here’s the beautiful part of this: Family gets to be a microcosm of the gospel. Family is where we learn and practice redemption. Through all the family stories in the Bible, you’ll see those themes of the struggle with sin, the need for restoration, and what God does. Like David and Mephibosheth, our families are a starting place for redemption, and what we live in our families serves as a model to those around us.
So the importance of all these family stories in the Bible hopefully should be an inspiration point to you as you also walk through these same narratives of sin, conflict, struggle, healing, reunifying, and honoring God. These stories help us examine if our families are acting as redemption-bringers.
Our next generations need a path so we need to lay those foundations down now. The world changes for the better when our families are walking in that biblical model. We provide a path back to peace and restoration in Jesus. Your family is the original place to model those things and then take it to those around you.
Your family is a tool of the gospel.